September 2017

This year’s Heart of the Community conference takes place on 17th October at Church House in Westminster between 12pm and 4pm. Attendance is free for retailers and other ACS members, click here to book your place. 

The event will bring together retailers from across the country with industry experts and Government Ministers. High Streets Minister Jake Berry MP will address retailers on the key issues affecting the convenience sector and the Government’s plans to help small businesses and high streets.

Bottle deposit return schemes would impose significant time and cost burdens on convenience store retailers and their staff, according to evidence presented by ACS at the Labour Party Conference this week.

At a fringe event hosted by the British Soft Drinks Association on Monday evening, ACS detailed the issues that would be faced by retailers if they were forced to be part of a bottle deposit return scheme.

ACS (the Association of Convenience Stores) has called on the Government to implement a series of measures on business rates, employment costs and duty rates to help local shops and other small businesses.

In its submission ahead of the Chancellor’s first Autumn Budget on 22^nd November, ACS has reiterated its calls for an overhaul of the business rates system, with urgent attention required to allow businesses to appeal their rates.

The submission calls for:

Heart of the Community 2017 is just a few weeks away, where High Streets Minister Jake Berry MP will address retailers on the Government's plans to help high streets and small businesses.

Jake Berry was appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department of Communities and Local Government on 14^th June after retaining his Rossendale and Darwen seat in the 2017 General Election. His responsibilities include local growth policies, Local Enterprise Partnerships, community rights and high streets.

ACS has welcomed Local Government Minister Marcus Jones’ intervention to speed up the process of rebilling businesses that are waiting for rate relief.

In a Commons statement, he said: “The Government has been consistently clear that it expects local authorities to make rapid progress in helping business by implementing these relief schemes.